Angela Clayton is a budding costume designer from Long Island, New York and she’s only 18-years-old!
Angela Clayton is an 18-year-old budding costume designer from New York.


She started out making incredible cosplay costumes. Check out these awesome Elsa and Merida costumes!


She soon upgraded to historical and fantasy-inspired gowns.
“I realized I was a lot more interested in making things I found visually pleasing than making costumes of characters I liked,” Angela tells BuzzFeed Life. “Once I tried making costumes outside of cosplay I was completely won over.”

She runs a blog that features helpful progress pictures and construction notes.
The majority of her sewing skills are self-taught.
“I love the freedom of working on original designs, and the complexity and detail work that comes with historical projects.” Angela said.

Recently she started a YouTube channel with tutorials and informative videos.
Ever wanted to learn how to make a butterfly crown?

Her Elsa costume took around 250 hours to create, with 170 of those hours dedicated to embellishing the cape by hand.
See her detailed posts here.

This feathery white dress was inspired by some of the opulent gowns on the Marchesa catwalk.

Here, she re-created the outfit from the Portrait of Doña Isabel de Requesens
This dress is pictured in the painting by Raphael and Giulio Romano. Find out more about her process.

This pleated navy Renaissance dress used 12 yards of fabric!

Her Cinderella-inspired dress is a beautiful take on Disney’s version.
You can see her progress here.

Angela says this Christmas angel dress is one of her favorite costumes she’s made so far.
She even implemented LED lights in this design.

At the moment, she’s obsessed with medieval fashion.
“I really love English fashion from the 1620s and 1630s, and ball gowns from the 1860s. And I always find myself going back to Renaissance styles since there is so much variety,” Angela says.

“My motivation for making costumes is because I really like elaborate dresses! I also love the process (and sometimes, the challenge) of making them.”
